Opinion: Why don’t more artists and designers write autobiographies?

This week, editor Liv Siddall wonders why you don’t see that many autobiographies from creatives. Seen any? Disagree? Throw in your two cents in our comments section at the bottom.

Damien Hirst has just announced that he’s going to tell all in an autobiography coming out soon that is, in co-writer James Fox’s words, going to reveal Damien’s “semi-criminal” past.

If we can, let’s just put that on the back-burner for a minute, and have a think of which other artists or designers have made autobiographies. Think of any? Me neither. Sure, there are monographs, show catalogues and big, coffee table-bucking books about their work, but not so many paperback life stories written by the artist themselves.

A brief spell on the internet led me to discover that yes, there have been a few. Yayoi Kusama has made one called Infinity Net and rather excitingly, Frank Lloyd Wright wrote one too that I had no idea about. There are a few more here and there, but you can go and look into that later.

What puzzles me is that surely, surely they’d sell really well. Who could have more stories to tell than those who stayed up getting pissed with Picasso in his chateau one summer, or artists that spent periods of time lounging, smoking Vogues in Warhol’s Factory? Even Damien’s counterparts, the illustrious YBA’s must have some fun stories. Michael Landy once told us about the private view of YBA’s infamous Freeze show and about how he missed out on being in the famous photo of them all together because he was “at the shop buying ice” for everyone’s drinks. There must be loads of funny stories like that.

Are artists too busy to make autobiographies? Or could you argue that their life is already written in the work they create? I had a think about what other kinds of people tend to write them and my brain came back with Jordan, footballers and comedians. One look at the Guardian’s very handy list of bestselling autobiographies since 2001 showed that I had pretty much nailed that. Dave Pelzer’s A Child Called It held the top spot, contrasted with Peter Kay at a close second.

Those two oddly appealing reads aside, there aren’t many others in that list that I’d chose to read over, say, a book written by Keith Haring about his time spray painting all over New York. I’m sure Richard Hammond and Sharon Osborne did some cool stuff, yeah, but imagine hearing anecdotes selected from the upbringing of a design legend like Milton Glaser.

I’m looking forward to reading Damien’s book, really. But is has got me wondering about the worth of these books, the importance of refraining from a tell-all à la Simon Cowell, and more importantly which artist’s life I would most love to get really stuck into. What about you?

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Portuguese graphic designer and illustrator Braulio Amado – who we interviewed here and who currently works for Bloomberg Businessweek – recently got in touch about the huge expense of entering (and winning) design awards. Here he is on the confusing reality of it costing more than $400 to receive awards from the Type Directors Club.

Did you know that there are more images published every day now than there were in the whole of the 19th Century? Nicholas Mirzoeff has written a brilliant book about this fact, entitled How to See the World. Here’s Nicholas on the myriad ways in which this mass of visual information impacts our perception and creativity, and the “exciting, inspiring and anarchic” effect it might have.

People frequently decry her lack of technical skill. “She can’t draw,” they say. I think this tends to miss the point as much as the worn out reproach, “my three year-old could do that.” In the context of contemporary art, perhaps far more important than being an accomplished draughtsman is the ability to produce gesture and affect. Emin can do this. I also happen to respond well to her loose, evocative hand and think her gouache nudes are visually very strong. I remember reading a typically scathing review from Brian Sewell in the Evening Standard a couple of years ago where he described one of her drawings as a “squalid smudge.”

Elsewhere I’ve read that based on her ability she is undeserving of her success, that there are more talented artists who will never reach her dizzying heights, that her emphasis on sex is gratuitous and that she shows contempt for anything that is pleasing to the eye. I’m not going to pick apart every criticism, but because Emin is successful and someone else is not fails to invalidate her work (I’d also add that the two are not contingent on one another), to channel her sexuality into her work is her prerogative as a woman in the 21st Century, and as for the question of beauty, by now art has shown it can be ugly and still worthy.

The days of beers in the park and ice lollies at lunchtime are nearly upon us, and with that comes degree shows, and lots of them. But who should be charged with designing the identity for a university degree show – should it be the students, or an external agency? Indeed, do degree shows need identities at all? We want to hear from you; you can add your thoughts to the comments section below.

After the Design Museum names its six category winners for the 2015 Designs of the Year, Rob Alderson argues that the victor in the graphics section is a very worthy winner. You can add your thoughts using the comment thread below.